When Jill Eaton saw the job posting for Lifespark Community Liaison in 2022, she told herself, “Just go for it.” The role turned out to be a perfect fit, both professionally and personally. But more on that later.
Jill started her career in 1994 as a licensed practical nurse (LPN), working in board and care, assisted living, long-term care, memory care, behavioral health, in-patient care, wound care, and transitional care. “I gained so much experience during my 10 years there but working 12-hour shifts as a single parent was hard,” she said.
So, when she was offered an opportunity to develop a clinical liaison role for a regional provider, she accepted. Her job quickly tripled in scope. “I actually had three positions—clinical liaison, director of admissions, and director of new business development—but I loved the work,” she said.
After nearly 10 years in that fast-paced environment, Jill welcomed the relative calm of her new role as the nurse manager on a men’s memory care wing. During her tenure there, she worked closely with a young nurse just out of school. “She had lots of academic knowledge but not much field experience, which is a whole different ballgame,” she said. “But we were a good match: I mentored her through her first client death and how to handle behavioral issues, and she taught me the names of the newest psychotropic medications.”
In December 2022, Jill left to join Lifespark. As did the nurse.
Lifespark through a new lens
One morning, seven months into her new role as Community Liaison, Jill woke up with pain in her abdomen. After a five-hour wait in the ER, the exam revealed a condition that required immediate surgery. “I tried to explain that I had a full schedule that day, but tomorrow could probably work. The doctor said, ‘No, you’re doing this now,’” she recalled. “I called my team and they just said, ‘Tell us what you need.’ It blew my mind how supportive everyone was.”
After four days in the hospital, Jill was discharged to recover at home. A week into her recovery, however, she got an urgent call from her mother saying that her father was being rushed to the hospital for the third time in a year, and just two days after he had been discharged. She loaded up her car and drove straight to the hospital in Brainerd, where she found her father fully intubated and struggling to breathe.
“Using my nursing skills and advocating for my dad, I convinced the doctors to put in a chest tube,” she said. “He was clearly declining—he had lost weight, he was on oxygen nebulizers, he was basically bedbound—and yet the medical team wanted to send him to a TCU for rehab.”
She asked her dad if he wanted to go to physical therapy, and he said no. “I told him that was okay, but that we couldn’t get the equipment he needed up in Brainerd, so he and mom would need to stay with me,” she said. “I called Lifespark right away and had an amazing experience with the Intake team.”
Within a day, the referral for Lifespark Hospice had been processed. The equipment was delivered to her house that Tuesday, and her father was transferred from Brainerd to Minneapolis on Wednesday. For the first time since becoming a Community Liaison, Jill was on the receiving end of Lifespark’s responsiveness, attention to detail, and compassion.
While she and her mother were her dad’s day-to-day caregivers, they had full support from the hospice nurses. “Unfortunately, my parents and I got COVID, and I didn’t want the team to carry it to other clients or bring it home to their families, so my dad didn’t get to reap all the extra benefits of hospice.” But the nurses kept coming to the house and consulting with her on medications. She was also able to connect with the hospice social worker and the chaplain by phone.
“It was a challenge to be a caregiver and a daughter at the same time, and I could see the wear and tear on my mom,” she said. “In fact, we were going to bring in Community Home Care, private-pay services for added support but my dad died just nine days later.”
Champion for transparency
Months earlier, Jill had tried to talk with her father about hospice, but he had resisted. “That’s why I do a lot of education at consults—we just don’t get people on service soon enough,” she said.
She also believes that doctors need to be more transparent with patients and their family members. “Oncologists, for example, should be honest about the survival rate and the implications of treatment: if it’s only 5% and the chemo is going to damage other organs and make the person miserable for the last year of their life, they should be upfront about it,” she said. “People need to understand the risks, so they can make informed decisions.”
The same applies to diagnostic exams. “When a client says they need to have a CT scan or a PET scan, I’ll ask them if they would undergo treatment if the results weren’t so positive. If they wouldn’t choose treatment, it doesn’t make sense to do the exam,” she said.
When it’s appropriate, Jill will share that her father was on Lifespark Hospice and that it was tough being the daughter and caregiver. “I tell them, ‘If you’re going to be the family caregiver, make sure you have a good support system and a backup plan,’” she said.
Recently she was at a private-pay consultation with one of the Community Home Care nurses, when the client asked about hospice. “I was able to talk about the benefits, including support for family members,” she said. “I believe we need to celebrate life at end of life, not just at birth, because we’re all going to get there. Hospice lets us walk each other home.”
To learn more about our core services, visit Lifespark.com. To make a referral, please contact our Intake team at 952-345-0919.
